FBI Investigating Suspicious Fire That Destroyed Missouri Mosque

Federal agents are investigating a fire that completely destroyed the Islamic Society of Joplin in southwest Missouri on Monday. This is not the first attack on the Joplin mosque — the FBI has already issued a $15,000 reward for information about a July incident, when a surveillance camera caught a man throwing an incendiary device onto the building that damaged the mosque’s roof. The FBI has not yet figured out whether the two events are related, but they are focusing efforts on determining whether yesterday’s fire that burned the mosque to the ground was deliberately set. The 50 families who attended the mosque are in the midst of celebrating the holy month of Ramandan, and a local Episcopal church has opened its doors to them so they will have a space to pray.